Conceptual design of commuter aircraft including distributed electric propulsion

A comprehensive developed conceptual design and analysis tool is here employed in the design of hybrid electric 19 passenger’s commuter aircraft. Particular attention is payed to the regulation under which aircraft must be certified. The sizing activity accounts for the aero-propulsive interactions when distributed electric propulsion is present. Output of this activity are the energetic requirements and the mass breakdown, by combining the free choice of the designer with aviation regulations and requirements. The application here presented provides parametric studies based on different operating combinations of distributed electric propulsion and e-storage. The aim of the present work is the identification of a design range which would make the choice of the new technologies profitable. The most promising result is a full-electric concept having 16 distributed propellers and designed for a flight mission of 200 nmi certifiable under FAR-23 (or CS-23) regulation.